Filmsy - Movie Reviews Blog

Dragonball movie 2: “Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle”

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Dragonball movie 2

Maybe it doesn’t have the best title, but “Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle” is my favorite of the three original Dragonball films. While the first installment, “Curse of the Blood Rubies”, retold the origin of Goku and how he met all his friends, this installment retells how he met his best friend, Krillen, and how they earned the privilege of training with Master Roshi. So, if you’ve already seen that arc of the television series you’ll be pretty familiar with the story here. However, unlike “Curse of the Blood Rubies”, “Sleeping Princess” adapts the storyline to a more original plot so it feels much more fresh and isn’t quite a blatant rehash.

Goku returns to Master Roshi’s island and asks to be trained by the Turtle Hermit. However, at the same time, another young martial arts master named Krillen shows up desiring the same thing. Master Roshi sends them both out to a dark region called the Devil’s Hand to retrieve a sleeping Princess for him; the one who brings her back earning the right to become his student. So Goku and Krillen race to rescue the Princess while their other friends, Bulma, Yamcha, Puar and Oolong, head after them. Once they arrive they discover the Devil’s Hand is ruled over by the sinister Count Lucifer who intends to use the power of the Princess to destroy the sun. Further complicating matters is the sudden arrival of ultra-violent treasure hunter, Launch, who wants the Princess for her own greedy reasons. So who’ll end up with the Princess?

I actually prefer this telling of Goku and Krillen’s first encounter and their test to become Roshi’s students over the original version presented in the manga and the TV series. “Sleeping Princess” has a little more substance to it while the original version just had Roshi send them out to essentially kidnap a hot chick for him. This one also involves the whole colorful cast of Dragonball, a cast I prefer over the one from later Dragonball Z. I just find the likes of Yamcha, Puar, Oolong and Roshi more interesting and entertaining than the bland Saiyans like Trunks, Goten and yes, even Vegeta.

The animation provided by Toei Studios is a bit underwhelming, only providing a few moments of outstanding fight choreography. Other fight scenes have the characters sort of just “floating” about and looks very awkward. Still, the some-what stiff animation is helped along with charming character designs, background art and a very eccentric cast of heroes. However, Count Lucifer isn’t the best villain, honestly, and I found his big pink General to be far more exciting a bad guy. Still, Dragonball is a much more jovial series than its successor, Dragonball Z, and it gets its kicks with lots of humor, most of which hits the mark. So you can’t expect the most epic story-telling, here.

The English dub for the film was done by the Funimation cast rather than the Ocean Group and I really can’t find myself complaining about any of the voices. I really like their version of Master Roshi; he’s just such an over-the-top, goofy perv. Evil Launch’s voice is also quite nice, though her Good version can’t quite decide if she wants to sound like a feather-brain of a Southern Belle. This movie, as well as “Mystic Adventure”, also features Funimation’s alternate Dragonball-voice for Goku. For the television series they simply chose the voice actor for Gohan to do Goku, a choice I was never really fond of. I greatly prefer this actor for Goku as the voice is much less coarse and grating.

Not too much else to say about the movie. The only version available on DVD is the uncut version which maintains a few of the more perverse jokes and a couple seconds of male (child) nudity, but it’s totally harmless so don’t get the wrong impression. While the perverted gags with Roshi are maintained, they’re honestly rather tame and will fly over the heads of most kids. I’d say the film is suitable for most children.

“Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle” gets a B-. It’s a good flick but not something I watch on a regular basis, and again, if you’ve seen the TV series the story won’t totally excite you.

Grade: B-

Dragonball movie 1: “Curse of the Blood Rubies”

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Dragonball movie 1

Unlike the Dragonball Z movies, the original Dragonball films adapted arcs of the television series, albeit in a condensed format, rather than tell completely new stories. The animation was also a bit more primitive and the action a lot less intense, leaving many to prefer the Dragonball Z films over the Dragonball ones. Personally, I thoroughly enjoy the Dragonball movies as well as the television series, which is something I can’t say for Dragonball Z, at least in its entirety. This initial Dragonball movie, “Curse of the Blood Rubies”, condenses the first 13 episodes of the TV series (referred to as the “Goku Saga”) into about 45 minutes. So, naturally, you’re going to lose a bit in translation.

In a peaceful village, the greedy King Gurumes has begun mining for Blood Rubies. However, with the Blood Rubies come a terrible curse which transforms the once gentle King into a gigantic monster. His hunger unable to be satisfied no matter how much he eats, King Gurumes sends his thugs out across the globe to track-down the Dragonballs: 7 mystical orbs which, once united, can summon the Eternal Dragon to grant a single wish. Unbeknownst to King Gurumes, a teenage girl named Bulma is after the Dragonballs, too, and her quest leads her to the home of the orphaned wildboy, Goku. Goku’s a talented martial artist but a bit on the naïve side. King Gurumes’ goons steal Goku’s Dragonball, a gift from his deceased Grandfather, and Goku and Bulma head out to get it back. Along the way, Goku and Bulma meet Penny, a girl from King Gurumes’ kingdom, Oolong, a shape-shifting pig, Yamcha, the desert bandit, Puar, Yamcha’s assistant, and Master Roshi, the geriatric martial arts master of the Kamehameha.

While it’s the most classic story in the Dragonball mythos, I can’t help but feel a little bored whenever I watch this movie, mostly because the story has been retold at least 4 times: the manga, the TV series, “Curse of the Blood Rubies” and “The Path to Power”. It’s classic, for sure, but you can only watch it so many times. On the bright side, they manage to condense the story and work-in all the characters rather well. The subsequent Dragonball films do a better job of adapting episode arcs while providing more original material, though.

As of right now, the only version of this film available in the US is the edited cut from the late 90’s. While I do hate edits, a part of me somewhat appreciates the edited version. It maintains nearly all of the violence of the original version as well as some of the cruder jokes (Bulma wetting herself) but removes the perverted gags. To this extent, it’s perfect for young children, because honestly, even with the dirty jokes intact, most teenagers are going to find this movie a little childish. The added scene-transitions and wipes do look very tacked-on and ugly, however.

The dub performed by the Ocean Group, one of their earliest works in regards to Dragonball, is actually pretty good. They definitely improved over time (becoming fantastic by Dragonball Z), but they hit many of the character’s with a perfect bullseye. Saffron Henderson does a good Goku, Gary Chalk is a menacing King Gurumes and I really like the voices for Bulma, Yamcha and Oolong. I suppose my only major complaint is Puar’s voice, which is a little on the irritating side (I think they were trying to go for a British accent but it still sounds off). A lot of fans of the Japanese dub never liked the US voice-portrayal of Master Roshi as a senile old man, and it is a little too cartoonish, but I’ve always found it funny. Roshi had many English voices over the constantly fluctuating cast of Dragonball and Dragonball Z, but his best was definitely the later Funimation voice actor.

The animation by Toei Studios isn’t anything to write home about. A few of the fight scenes, such as Goku’s fight with Yamcha and Goku’s aerial battle against Gurumes’ thug on the hoverboard, are worthwhile but I wouldn’t qualify them as “visually stunning”. The animation is consistent and smooth, but nothing about it screams “movie quality”.

“Curse of the Blood Rubies” is a good introduction to Dragonball and the edited version is perfect for kids. For the Dragonball fanboy, though, the movie loses its rewatch value rather quickly. The future Dragonball movies, such as “Sleeping Princess in Devil’s Castle” and “Mystic Adventure” are a bit better.

Grade: C

Dragonball Z movie 6: “The Return of Cooler”

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Dragonball Z movie 6

The Return of Cooler is another one of my favorite Dragonball Z movies and a very epic conclusion to Cooler’s story arc. The Return of Cooler is also longer than the previous film (62 minutes as opposed to the 45 minute-long “Cooler’s Revenge”) and packs in a lot more story and action.

New Namek (homeworld of Piccolo’s people) is suddenly attacked by a planet-eating war world called the Big Gete Star (think Unicron from Transformers the Movie only squishier). Dende, the new Guardian of Earth, senses the disturbance and enlists Goku and friends to save the troubled Namekians. Goku, Gohan, Krillen and the rest arrive on New Namek and face-off against a legion of powerful Cyclopean Drones. The battle is tough, but things only get more complicated when the mastermind behind the planet-chomping operation rears his ugly head: Meta Cooler!

Cooler is easily my favorite returning villain of the Dragonball Z movie franchise and the Return of Cooler is the best of his two appearances. Clocking in at 62 minutes (that’s actually pretty long for a Dragonball Z movie), this movie manages to work-in an excellent story, lots of fight sequences and one of the most epic final battles in any Dragonball Z movie. What I appreciate most about this film is that the odds really *are* against Goku and his friends which actually leads to a thing called “tension”, which tends to be absent from many Dragonball Z movies. More often than not, Goku defeats the lead villain by simply turning to a new level of Super Saiyan or just pulling out some dues ex machina attack, like the Spirit Bomb. This time around, Meta Cooler beats the mortal Hell out of both Goku and Vegeta when they’re at their very best and they actually have to find a way to defeat the enemy by, *gasp!*, using their wits!

This installment also marks the first appearance of Vegeta in a Dragonball Z film (he’d been a regular in the TV series for quite some time, however). His big entrance was exceptionally pleasing, though Cooler does toss him around like a bit of a chump. Although I’ll always prefer Brian Drummond’s rendition of Vegeta from the old Ocean Group dub of the television series, I will admit, Christopher Sabat’s take on the character managed to grow on me. He’s very deep and growly, not quite as hissy-sounding as Drummond’s, and he sounds suitably evil.

Toei’s animation is magnificent all-around. The fight sequences are gloriously violent and perfectly choreographed. This installment contains some of the best aerial battles between characters, deploying numerous “camera” tricks which result in a very dizzying effect. As characters race all over the skies, teleporting from one spot to another, the landscape beneath them spins like crazy. They move really *fast*, you almost have trouble keeping up with them. Meta Cooler’s hordes of Cyclopean Drones are also a nice break from the standard minions the lead villain tosses at the good guys in previous films. While they lack colorful personalities, they’re plethora of attacks, such as grappling arms, machine guns and rocket-launchers, make them a definite visual treat. Meta Cooler-himself looks especially awesome as well as…shiny. Really, really shiny.

A shame to say it, but after this installment, the Dragonball Z movie series becomes a bumpy ride in regards to quality. Up until this point, the only decidedly bad installment was “Lord Slug”. However, from here on out, the movies will range mostly from bad to mediocre with only a few good ones thrown in. So enjoy this movie for now, because you won’t be seeing anything as good until “Wrath of the Dragon”. But, to assign the standard letter grade, I give the Return of Cooler a B+.

Grade: B+

Dragonball Z movie 5: “Cooler’s Revenge”

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Dragonball Z 5

“Cooler’s Revenge” is one of the better installments in the Dragonball Z film franchise and certainly one of my favorites. Cooler has always been my favorite returning villain of the movie series, as I definitely prefer him over the annoyingly overrated Broly. While this movie is short in length (45 minutes) it has one of the more intriguing stories and some very consistent animation.

When Goku was just an infant being shuttled from planet Vegeta (homeworld of the Saiyans) his ship was spotted by Cooler, the brother of Frieza. Cooler allowed Goku’s ship to proceed, a choice that would eventually come back to haunt him, as Goku would later kill Frieza in an epic confrontation on planet Namek. Wanting to challenge the Saiyan who killed his brother, Cooler and his minions come to Earth. At the same time, Goku, Gohan and the rest of his friends are on a camping trip. Cooler quickly makes his presence known and Goku must now fight a foe even more powerful than Frieza ever was.

Cooler’s a great villain; basically Frieza minus the homoeroticism. I particularly liked his transformed state during the film’s climax, as it reminded me of Super Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. While there isn’t much more to the character other than being Frieza 2.0, his connection to Goku’s origin was pleasantly ironic, and not half as stupid as Broly’s connection. Cooler’s Armored Corps (his minions) weren’t so good, however. Another bland set of thugs, these guys just didn’t have much to make them stand out (as opposed to the thugs in “Tree of Might”, who were all very unique).

The animation in Cooler’s Revenge is top-notch, remaining visually pleasing from beginning to end and rarely cutting corners, even during the “slow” segments. But, of course, this movie is only 45 minutes-long, so don’t be expecting too many slow segments. The fights are excellent, the two best being Piccolo’s scrap with the Armored Corps and Goku’s final showdown with Cooler. I’m also grateful that the non-Saiyan characters such as Piccolo and Krillen haven’t been reduced to either comic relief or ineffectual losers quite yet. Krillen only tussles with Salsa (leader of Cooler’s Armored Corps) for a few brief moments, but it’s a far cry better than how they treated the character in “Broly’s Second Coming”.

The voice acting in the movie is both good and bad. The cast of TV regulars are as good as usual, and I really do like Sean Schemmel’s Goku quite a bit. Cooler also has an excellent voice which gets even better once he transforms. No, the major voice acting problem is with Cooler’s Armored Corps. They’re really annoying, particularly Salsa’s random German (?) accent.

Cooler’s 2 movie arc remains one of the better portions of the Dragonball Z movie series and marks a definite highpoint in the franchise. I’d give it a B. It might have gotten a “+” had it been a bit longer and the Armored Corps not been so damn annoying.

Grade: B

Dragonball Z movie 13: “Wrath of the Dragon”

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Dragonball Z movie 13

After cantering along, relying on lukewarm rehashes of television episodes or boring returning villains that just wouldn’t go away, the Dragonball Z movie franchise finally manages to get its act together for the 13th and final installment. And damn, does the franchise go out with a bang!

Gohan and Videl are hoodwinked by a creepy old man named Hoi into helping him release a great hero, Tappion, from his prison within an enchanted music box (these are the strongest people in the Universe, not the smartest). Using the power of the Dragonballs, the heroes release Tappion, but as it turns out, he wasn’t incarcerated in the music box all by himself. By setting Tappion free they also unleash Hirudegarn, a monstrous dragon which devours people and lays waste to entire planets.

“Wrath of the Dragon” seems to be pretty self-aware that it’s going to be the grand finale of the franchise, so it places a pretty big emphasis on “grand”. Unlike previous Dragonball Z movies, “Wrath of the Dragon” has consistently gorgeous animation from start to finish. While other sequels save the budget for the fight scenes, leaving the rest of the movie to look bland and ugly, Toei Studios maintain a level of highest quality in every scene. This really looks like it belongs in a movie theater.

“Wrath of the Dragon” also has something going for it that previous Dragonball Z movies sorely lacked: a story. The back-story of Tappion, Hirudegarn and Hoi is very epic, giving the characters a memorable quality. In previous films, the villains tend to be very generic copycats of villains from the TV series, but Hirudegarn, a giant dragon-creature made of mist, is quite unique. The story is more up to the quality of the first three Dragonball Z movies, where they dared to be different. Tappion’s back story is rather tragic and he’s one of the better characters to come along in the era of Dragonball Z where anything and everything revolved around Saiyans. While it’s a shame we never got to see more of him, he does leave a lasting effect on Trunks.

Speaking of Trunks, he gets quite the spotlight in this movie. I’ve never been a fan of Trunks, to be honest. His entrance into the TV series marked the decline of my interest, as all the characters I came to love from Dragonball and early DBZ were pushed aside to make room for one new Super Saiyan after another. Yet, through-out this movie I don’t find myself annoyed by Trunks hardly at all. The overall tone of the film thankfully avoids goofy and silly humor (something “Fusion Reborn” had an overabundance of) and leans heavily toward a dark angle, with cities being destroyed and innocent bystanders being eaten alive. Perhaps it’s because they avoided the silly slapstick humor that I managed to tolerate Trunks and Goten.

It’s also good to see Goku alive again. He’d been dead for so many movies I almost forgot he was ever alive. I also smirked with approval when Vegeta made his big entrance for the final battle with Hirundegarn. I was nearly worried he wasn’t going to show up. Original non-Saiyan characters, the characters I like the most, don’t get much of a spotlight in this film, regrettably. Bulma manages to get in a bit of screen time, but Krillen (one of my favorite characters) is used for a brief moment of typical comic relief and doesn’t even get to fight. Even more depressing is that Piccolo is noticeably absent from the final movie. Master Roshi makes a quick cameo with his usual drunken lecherous antics, but it seemed rather pointless.

I suppose my only real complaint aside from the lack of my favorite characters is the final solution to Hirundegarn. It looked great thanks to more of Toei’s magnificent animation, but it seemed rather convenient and out of the blue; sort’ve watering down the villain’s threat into “Oh, well I guess he wasn’t that big a problem, after all”. There are also a few lines about racial bigotry that are delivered rather poorly, giving a “Now you know…”-vibe to them.

“Wrath of the Dragon” is easily one of the best films in the Dragonball Z franchise, like they knew they were saving the best for last. It looks gorgeous, has some brilliant fight scenes and features plenty of Super Saiyan action (if that’s your sorta thing). I have to give it a B+. Up there with “World’s Strongest” and “Tree of Might”.

Grade: B+